To be able to understand these results, it can be useful to compare them to gTLDs. The number of registered .com domains is over 120 million, there are about 20 million registered .net and 20 million .org, 5 million .info and 2 million .biz. Their rate being on the Alexa top 1 million list is between 2-4 domains per thousand.

Let’s check the success of websites running on nTLDs so far!

rank

extension

domains in Alexa top 1 million

No. of registration

‰ of Alexa top 1M domains

1

.xyz

580

1178027

0,49

2

.club

453

280881

1,61

3

.link

279

158043

1,77

4

.website

155

105624

1,47

5

.today

141

47412

2,97

6

.top

138

256747

0,54

7

.work

105

67801

1,55

8

.ninja

102

51717

1,97

9

.guru

88

67204

1,31

10

.sexy

83

24605

3,37

11

.rocks

80

59944

1,33

12

.tokyo

73

39549

1,85

13

.media

64

20272

3,16

14

.click

63

145906

0,43

15

.space

56

63073

0,89

16

.life

44

24942

1,76

17

.science

42

326773

0,13

18

.tips

40

34277

1,17

19

.pics

37

27197

1,36

20

.agency

35

21625

1,62

21

.wang

34

213057

0,16

22

.center

32

29572

1,08

23

.zone

32

14051

2,28

24

.moe

30

4795

6,26

25

.ovh

28

68239

0,41

26

.red

28

31895

0,88

27

.wiki

28

11611

2,41

28

.press

28

6717

4,17

29

.global

27

16721

1,61

30

.digital

27

11458

2,36

31

.eus

27

3953

6,83

32

.social

26

14918

1,74

33

.video

26

7808

3,33

34

.party

24

207049

0,12

35

.news

24

18884

1,27

36

.expert

22

27921

0,79

37

.city

22

17019

1,29

38

.porn

22

11777

1,87

39

.host

22

3971

5,54

40

.company

21

42272

0,50

41

.pink

21

16438

1,28

42

.kim

21

9141

2,30

43

.marketing

20

13341

1,50

44

.london

19

66471

0,29

45

.world

19

20194

0,94

46

.academy

19

17916

1,06

47

.gratis

19

4446

4,27

48

.buzz

18

9259

1,94

49

.tools

18

7764

2,32

50

.nyc

17

83029

0,20

51

.webcam

17

66142

0,26

52

.email

17

50819

0,33

53

.solutions

17

40762

0,42

54

.one

17

17339

0,98

55

.guide

17

12239

1,39

56

.report

17

4262

3,99

57

.directory

16

18918

0,85

58

.casa

16

16933

0,94

59

.reviews

16

16797

0,95

60

.gallery

16

16264

0,98

61

.support

16

15082

1,06

62

.bike

16

13359

1,20

63

.moscow

15

22388

0,67

64

.cool

15

10335

1,45

65

.gift

14

9652

1,45

66

.community

14

8672

1,61

67

.works

14

8111

1,73

68

.codes

14

4371

3,20

69

.berlin

13

80504

0,16

70

.help

13

28966

0,45

71

.technology

13

23283

0,56

72

.site

13

21166

0,61

73

.photos

13

17609

0,74

74

.education

13

16457

0,79

75

.design

13

14305

0,91

76

.services

12

20581

0,58

77

.paris

12

19982

0,60

78

.land

12

13851

0,87

79

.uno

12

13567

0,88

80

.deals

12

8411

1,43

81

.photography

11

49376

0,22

82

.audio

11

22437

0,49

83

.network

11

11211

0,98

84

.pub

10

42715

0,23

85

.blue

10

15967

0,63

86

.domains

10

7292

1,37

87

.wtf

10

6275

1,59

88

.black

10

5165

1,94

89

.bzh

10

4981

2,01

90

.money

10

4133

2,42

91

.ooo

9

15979

0,56

92

.events

9

15632

0,58

93

.training

9

15403

0,58

94

.scot

9

10351

0,87

95

.business

9

9186

0,98

96

.watch

9

5158

1,74

97

.chat

9

5031

1,79

98

.trade

8

11307

0,71

99

.market

8

7391

1,08

100

.exchange

8

4764

1,68

101

.photo

7

20755

0,34

102

.international

7

17886

0,39

103

.systems

7

17049

0,41

104

.coffee

7

10033

0,70

105

.direct

7

7684

0,91

106

.menu

7

6721

1,04

107

.careers

7

6532

1,07

108

.ink

7

5856

1,20

109

.kitchen

7

5641

1,24

110

.kiwi

6

10193

0,59

111

.farm

6

7373

0,81

112

.ventures

6

6891

0,87

113

.pictures

6

6388

0,94

114

.country

6

5453

1,10

115

.onl

6

5268

1,14

116

.futbol

6

4316

1,39

117

.partners

6

4307

1,39

118

.nagoya

6

4187

1,43

119

.hamburg

5

23044

0,22

120

.consulting

5

14887

0,34

121

.hosting

5

14564

0,34

122

.house

5

13602

0,37

123

.clothing

5

13323

0,38

124

.wales

5

10509

0,48

125

.adult

5

8775

0,57

126

.software

5

7979

0,63

127

.graphics

5

7804

0,64

128

.fitness

5

6813

0,73

129

.camp

5

5398

0,93

130

.amsterdam

5

5138

0,97

131

.fund

5

3695

1,35

132

.cab

5

3384

1,48

133

.church

4

12253

0,33

134

.quebec

4

10519

0,38

135

.melbourne

4

7566

0,53

136

.camera

4

5216

0,77

137

.cash

4

5125

0,78

138

.sale

4

4316

0,93

139

.bid

4

3691

1,08

140

.place

4

3678

1,09

141

.ren

3

16502

0,18

142

.wien

3

13452

0,22

143

.bio

3

11502

0,26

144

.rentals

3

11368

0,26

145

.estate

3

10424

0,29

146

.care

3

10224

0,29

147

.beer

3

8435

0,36

148

.boutique

3

7798

0,38

149

.foundation

3

5952

0,50

150

.cards

3

5608

0,53

151

.shoes

3

5347

0,56

152

.clinic

3

4943

0,61

153

.parts

3

4661

0,64

154

.coach

3

4552

0,66

155

.vacations

3

4503

0,67

156

.build

3

3907

0,77

157

.limited

3

3857

0,78

158

.finance

3

3676

0,82

159

.tirol

3

3437

0,87

160

.fit

3

3319

0,90

161

.recipes

3

3312

0,91

162

.date

2

65036

0,03

163

.property

2

40838

0,05

164

.immo

2

11181

0,18

165

.immobilien

2

8302

0,24

166

.tech

2

8095

0,25

167

.repair

2

6174

0,32

168

.brussels

2

5784

0,35

169

.fashion

2

5766

0,35

170

.healthcare

2

5691

0,35

171

.holiday

2

5256

0,38

172

.cymru

2

4889

0,41

173

.yoga

2

4623

0,43

174

.builders

2

4383

0,46

175

.vision

2

4126

0,48

176

.capital

2

4104

0,49

177

.school

2

4025

0,50

178

.glass

2

3617

0,55

179

.team

2

3396

0,59

180

.supply

2

3329

0,60

181

.dating

2

3192

0,63

182

.realtor

1

107362

0,01

183

.review

1

42883

0,02

184

.bayern

1

29975

0,03

185

.cricket

1

26726

0,04

186

.flowers

1

25416

0,04

187

.lol

1

25091

0,04

188

.koeln

1

24399

0,04

189

.diet

1

17861

0,06

190

.vegas

1

15804

0,06

191

.properties

1

11918

0,08

192

.blackfriday

1

11864

0,08

193

.frl

1

10921

0,09

194

.attorney

1

8575

0,12

195

.tattoo

1

8388

0,12

196

.hiphop

1

7234

0,14

197

.equipment

1

6841

0,15

198

.singles

1

5696

0,18

199

.solar

1

5629

0,18

200

.capetown

1

4986

0,20

201

.ruhr

1

4808

0,21

202

.bar

1

4658

0,21

203

.reisen

1

4635

0,22

204

.dance

1

4633

0,22

205

.university

1

4562

0,22

206

.contractors

1

4466

0,22

207

.computer

1

4435

0,23

208

.productions

1

4378

0,23

209

.tax

1

4029

0,25

210

.toys

1

3956

0,25

211

.wedding

1

3686

0,27

212

.joburg

1

3624

0,28

213

.pizza

1

3378

0,30

214

.haus

1

3364

0,30

215

.catering

1

3248

0,31

216

.cafe

1

3208

0,31

217

.engineering

1

3167

0,32

218

.faith

0

21691

0,00

219

.christmas

0

14622

0,00

220

.lawyer

0

13153

0,00

221

.kaufen

0

9926

0,00

222

.nrw

0

9071

0,00

223

.management

0

8925

0,00

224

.institute

0

7107

0,00

225

.loan

0

6767

0,00

226

.love

0

6639

0,00

227

.forsale

0

6627

0,00

228

.construction

0

6605

0,00

229

.sydney

0

6592

0,00

230

.sucks

0

6551

0,00

231

.dental

0

6525

0,00

232

.accountant

0

6451

0,00

233

.vlaanderen

0

6168

0,00

234

.lighting

0

5712

0,00

235

.band

0

5672

0,00

236

.cologne

0

5516

0,00

237

.restaurant

0

5487

0,00

238

.holdings

0

5244

0,00

239

.enterprises

0

5046

0,00

240

.legal

0

5001

0,00

241

.win

0

4928

0,00

242

.vet

0

4861

0,00

243

.discount

0

4835

0,00

244

.jetzt

0

4612

0,00

245

.plumbing

0

4223

0,00

246

.cheap

0

3864

0,00

247

.supplies

0

3403

0,00

248

.diamonds

0

3293

0,00

249

.football

0

3291

0,00

250

.saarland

0

3195

0,00

This is altogether 4362 domains that runs on nTLDs and secured a place on the Alexa top list, only a little bit more than the highly unpopular .biz alone, which has 3342 websites in the top 1 million. There is 10,000 .info and 50,000 .net on the top Alexa list, so we can safely say that nTLDs are at the very beginning of the road.

The stars of nTLD so far, .xyz and .club are on the top of this list, followed by other generic extensions, .link, .website and .today. We can conclude several surprising conclusions if we go further on the list. nTLDs were created to add a second layer of specialization with the meaningful extension. Mainly specialization by geolocation or specialization by profession. None of those are successful so far.

I thought that extensions like .london, .nyc, .berlin, etc. will be used by end users almost immediately, since profession.city type domains are very oversaturated, it is really hard to register any good .coms here. So movers.london, flowers.nyc, pizza.berlin, realestate.sydney are domains that were in the mind of creators of the nTLD era. It seems these end users need a better education about nTLDs, since city domains are hardly used. Only 19 .london and 17 .nyc domains in the top million is a very poor result and others are just worse (except .tokyo with 73 domains). Based on the success rate the top extension is .eus (6.83‰), this is the new extension of the Basque people, most of them living in an autonomous region in Spain and very proud of their nationality. So this is rather a new ccTLD of a large population minority and not a real nTLD.

Professions are also not performing well. The general profession domains, .guru and .expert are less than satisfactory with 88 and 22 domains on the list but they are much better than professions themselves: .photography is the best one with 11 domains. Extensions like .dental, .legal or . lawyer have no websites in the top 1 million at all, profession extensions are in very bad situation.

So it looks like end users don’t really understand or agree the conception yet and goes for general domain extensions where .com, .net, etc are already registered. The registries should invest sponsoring web developments on their extensions to show the way how these extensions could be used properly and invest much more in marketing.

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About The Author

Bikadi has a PhD in Computational Chemistry and lives in Budapest, Hungary. He published many research papers in leading scientific journals about web services. He has been online since 1994 and a web enterpreneur since 2006.